PUD works on policy changes

Wahkiakum PUD commissioners considered implementation of several policy changes at their October 19 meeting, including discussion of a way to accept credit cards as a method of payment.

PUD Manager Dave Tramblie told the commissioners that a Puget Island diking district commissioner had requested the PUD temporarily remove a span of overhead conducting cable to facilitate dredging of a section of an East Little Island slough.

The commissioners also asked if the work could be done at no charge as a service to the community. Tramblie said he explained that he would have to bring the matter to the PUD board. He estimated the work would take about a full day for a four-person crew and clarified that the PUD would charge private citizens for the same work.

The commissioners decided that performing the work as a service was in line with similar in-kind donations the PUD has made to other community organizations and decided to approve the request.

Tramblie explained that between the two systems, there are between 12-16 separate instances of so-called “double minimum” meters, which refer to situations where one water meter serves two separate residential customers. Each customer is charged the monthly basic water charge. Tramblie suggested offering a waiver on system development fees for these customers to install new meters to serve individual residences. With the system development fee waived, the customers would only have to pay for the labor and materials to install new meters, which Tramblie estimated cost around $500. Tramblie suggested a 12-month limit on the waiver.

Commissioner Bob Jungers asked Tramblie if all of the households would be mandated to install a new meter during the yearlong window. Tramblie said he was undecided. Commissioner Larry Reese suggested offering an additional incentive in addition to the system development fee waiver, such as spreading payments over time. Jungers requested Tramblie and attorney Tim Hanigan draft language for a policy.

Auditor Erin Wilson brought up seasonal water meters. In the past, “snowbird” residents who move south for the winter occasionally requested their water be shut off while they were out of state, which created large workloads for water crews that had to disconnect and reconnect residences. To discourage shutoffs, several years ago the board imposed a $500 reconnect fee on customers that have their water turned off for over 30 days. Consequently, many snowbird residents leave their water connected and simply pay the basic monthly fee while they are out of state. “Doesn’t the fee seems excessive?” said Jungers.

Wilson commented that the fee had been raised several years ago from $250 to $500.Wilson asked the board to consider establishing a policy that would enable realtors to turn on the water temporarily for home inspections for less than $500.

Wilson reported on the research she had done on instituting a credit card payment method for customers. She polled 11 utilities in Washington that offer credit card payment services. All pay the credit card processing fees themselves rather than charging customers a convenience fee. She explained that if the PUD charged customers a convenience fee for using a card, their staff would be unable to process transactions for walk-in customers.

Additionally, Wilson had received recommendations about various processing companies and settled on one that could be implemented prior to launching the new billing software in late spring and later integrated into the software. The setup fee is $600 and a $25 monthly charge would be imposed until the PUD develops its own website.

The commissioners authorized Wilson to move forward on a contract with the credit card processing company but emphasized that credit card payment would not be immediately available to PUD customers.